Jeeves Solutions Unveils JeevesOne

The question and answer search engine looks to expand its horizons with the launch of its new combo ASP and CRM tool.

Time for a quick quiz. When do one and one make one?

Ask Jeeves (NASDAQ:ASKJ), the question and answer search engine, says the answer is its new Web-based software tool called JeevesOne, available now.

The server software, released Monday, combines the company's traditional ASP self-service search software with newly infused customer relationship management (CRM) tools. The basis of the platform is four elements: knowledge packs, dictionaries, the JeevesOne engine and a JeevesOne connector for Vignette, The company says it is designed for companies that have online-based customer service sites that help answer questions and trouble shoot problems.

JeevesOne is priced on a CPU model starting at $100,000 for the JeevesOne engine with additional charges for the other four aspects. The software currently supports Windows NT and Windows 2000 platforms.

Jeeves Solutions, the Emeryville, Calif.-based company's business division, is behind the release. The development team reportedly worked with two unnamed companies that specialize in CRM to help guide the end product.

For the last three years, Jeeves Solutions has worked with Dell, Ford, Nike, British Telecom and Verizon on their natural language customer service sites. Researchers at Jeeves use some of the data from customer inquiries and even phone conversations to analyze what are the most popular questions, how people are asking them and how do the companies respond to them. The goal is to make the Web-based self-service centers more customer friendly and easier to navigate.

"While answering questions is an absolute necessity for corporate Web sites, the opportunity to profit from the insight gained in question answering analysis has been largely ignored," says Jeeves Solutions president Claudio Pinkus.

But with the addition of some CRM capabilities, the company says the software can be an even more valuable tool.

"Unlike controlled user interfaces which are little more than automated polling mechanisms, JeevesOne provides companies with a window into customers' thinking at key points in the customer life cycle helping them maximize the lifetime value of their customers," says Pinkus.

The software tracks customers questions and uses the information to suggest related products or services and alert sales teams of a possible purchase.

As an optional component for companies using Vignette's VAF platform, Jeeves Connector for Vignette creates a content management system that alerts Web administrators to content holes and information gaps by analyzing customers' questions.

The company says out-of-the-box, JeevesOne can be installed within hours and fully customized and configures in three weeks.

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